


Turn Your Back Around

by cross



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Bad Ending, Masturbation, Phone Calls & Telephones, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-09
Updated: 2012-12-09
Packaged: 2017-11-20 16:08:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/587224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cross/pseuds/cross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After becoming a murderer's accomplice, Yu Narukami is forced to suffer the consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turn Your Back Around

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Persona 4 Golden's new bad ending. Content warning for sexual harassment that takes place over a phone call. Thank you to [Lulu](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ferriswheel) for the prompt idea, and [Em](http://bedsafely.tumblr.com) and Lock for beta reading.
> 
> Insert art by [Em](http://bedsafely.tumblr.com) as well, thank you!

            Yu had come to dread the sound of a telephone ringing.

            He thought about changing his number more than once, despite Adachi's initial warning, wondering if Adachi would really go to the trouble to follow through on his threats to turn him in if Yu attempted to cut ties. There was no doubt in his mind that Adachi _would_ be able to track him down again, if he wanted to—after all, hadn't his sheer incompetency throughout the case been nothing but a ruse to throw Yu and his friends off his scent? But he hoped that maybe, just maybe, Tohru Adachi, who had been prone to laziness for as long as Yu had known him, would give it up if the effort to keep Yu on a short leash became onerous.

            But every time the thought crossed his mind, it was followed by yet another late night phone call, almost as if Adachi could sense his thoughts from afar, to warn him that the two of them would remain entangled with their secret until he died.

            Yu thought about confessing to his friends what he had done, despite believing it would mean losing them all forever, no matter how much he managed to paint himself just another victim of Inaba's very own unsolved mystery. And whether he allowed himself to think it or not, he was nothing but a child who put one foolish toe out of line and let it guide the rest of the steps he took until the very end, out of fear and regardless of the shame that sat heavy in his stomach like he had swallowed a stone.

            But the truth was now his to bear too, by his own choice (no matter how much he might regret it now), and when Yu looked in the mirror of his bedroom at his parents' house he saw nothing but a coward whose faith in a friend had been a pinch too blind.

* * *

            Adachi liked calling at night, knowing that any sensible parents would be asleep by then. When his work schedule allowed he liked to call Yu at midnight on the dot, as a malevolent reminder of the past Yu had betrayed. Sometimes he would call to talk about work, just like an old friend would, knowing all Yu could do was listen and say yes Adachi-san, that sounds rough, Adachi-san; but unlike an old friend he would never ask Yu how he was doing in return. Most of the time the calls were brief: nothing but giddy little reminders to Yu of what he had done, to lord his sin over him, so that he would know they were trapped in this together forever, so that he would never betray Adachi for his friends and family.

            "Heard from Dojima-san, lately?" Adachi asked one night. There was a light buzzing in the background—the sound of a microwave heating up Adachi's late-night meal. ( _A bachelor’s meal for sure,_ Yu thought. _Probably instant noodles. Some things haven’t changed._ )

            "No, I haven't."

            "Yeah, that figures. He's been real busy, y'know... they're finally putting the wraps on Namatame's case. I think he'll be relieved when it's all over, honestly. You should give him a call someday. I bet Nanako-chan would love to hear from her big bro too."

            The smarminess in his tone made Yu grit his teeth. He took a deep breath.

            "I will. Has she been feeling okay lately...?"

            "Huh? Oh yeah, I think so... She's been going to school and Dojima-san hasn't said anything about it, so I'm just guessing." There was a pause on the other end. "But you know, I didn't call you just to make small talk, kid. I've got things I've gotta get done before I go back to work tomorrow, and I'm sure you're busy with your senior year stuff. Study hard and all that, make your parents proud!"

            Adachi snickered at his own dry humor.

            "Just don't forget," Adachi murmured, voice dripping with that enraging and familiar air of taunt, "how disappointed they'll be if you find out what you did. Dojima-san, and Nanako-chan, and your friends, too... Man, I'd hate to be you, _partner_."

            He never let Yu have the last word before hanging up.

* * *

            Yu did his best to not let it show to anyone that he was bothered—not only by the phone calls, but his own sin too, and how it felt like his friends were falling apart even from a distance, and how it felt like if he did turn Adachi in it would be the final straw for the Investigation Team, that they would go their separate ways as they tried not to think too hard about the criminal who almost got away (or the missing leader who turned his back on them).

            Because it wasn't always Adachi who called. His friends called, too, to tell him stories about school and about how the new Junes mascot could never measure up to Teddie and about how they all missed him and how it just wasn't the same meeting up in the food court when they were minus two. The fear his phone struck into him seeped into his voice no matter who was calling, no matter how relieved he was to see that the number wasn't Adachi's.

            "Hey, man," Yosuke said. He sounded exhausted whenever he called Yu these days, and Yu could hear the apathy sinking back into his voice that had disappeared when they were together, when Yosuke had found reasons to love his hometown and the people in it, found reasons to want to protect it that his best friend had promptly betrayed. "How've you been? It seems like we don't hear from you very often anymore... Haha, well, I guess that's just how things are when someone moves away.” Yu cringed at Yosuke’s valiant attempt to keep the pains of his own past lighthearted.

            "Sorry." He rolled over in his futon, keeping his voice down in case his parents were still up. "I've just been busy, I guess. I do miss you guys. I'll try to call more often."

            "You don't sound too good, dude. I won't tell the girls—unless you want me to—but you know they'll flip out and Rise'll wanna blow up your phone with messages and send you stuff. Actually, that doesn't like such a bad idea. Scratch that, I'm telling them."

            Yu broke into a smile at the sound of his best friend's worry and subsequent attempt to blow it off like nothing at all. It was the first real smile he had felt in ages. "I'm okay, really. I just need to start getting more rest, that's all. School is, uh, busy."

            "Yeah, I know what you mean. Sensei's assigning us papers every night and now that Ted's not here there's no one to cover my shifts while I do my homework." Yosuke's familiar and dramatic groan lifted Yu's spirits, reminded him of happier days. "Well, get some rest, okay? Just 'cause we're partners doesn't mean I'm gonna come scrape you off a city sidewalk if you collapse somewhere, so you better take good care of yourself. Talk to you later, Yu."

* * * 

            There were nights when Yu dared to believe that he might be free, that Adachi had grown bored of his sporadic torment. It was always those nights when Adachi would call him, at midnight, with words that left him with nightmares and the shakes—if he ever got to sleep at all.

            "Hey Yu-kun, it's me again." Adachi breathed into the receiver, and Yu held his phone away from his ear in his shaky palm. "It's been awhile since we talked, hasn't it? I was just thinking about you."

            _Dare I ask why?_ "You were?"

            "Yeah, I mean, I think about you a lot. Your friendship meant a lot to me. It's not like I've forgotten it just 'cause you did me a solid. In fact, I think our bond has gotten even stronger since then!"

            A chill surged down Yu's spine. There was a familiar sound in the background, a rhythmic _thwap_ occasionally punctured by the echoes of slick wetness and huffs through Adachi's nose. Yu felt his stomach flop over on its side in his belly. _This again._ He remained silent. _Don’t react, don’t encourage him._

            "What do you think of that, partner?" Adachi grinned through the line, unbridled twisted glee in each of his words. "You agree with me, right? We're in this together, and we're always gonna be. It's really touching that you put all of your friends and family through the wringer, just for me."

            The sounds in the background grew more rapid, and Adachi's breaths came ragged and punctured into Yu's ear. Yu said nothing, only cringing and burying his face into his pillow, glad he skipped dinner for fear he might have thrown it back up.

            "No one else would've done that for me. Not even Dojima-san. What a guy you are, huh... I guess that's why everyone in town liked you so much."

            Adachi laughed as he came, drowning out the abating sounds of finishing himself off.

            "Not much to say tonight, huh? That's okay. As long as you continue to keep your mouth shut, everyone will still like you—me _and_ them. You _can_ have it both ways. Everyone wins! Hahaha." Adachi's laughter faded away with a carefree sigh and what Yu thought was the sound of a zipper. "Enjoy the rest of your night, Yu-kun."

            Yu laid in his futon for a long time after that, staring at the ceiling and ignoring the light of his phone's charger blinking on the floor next to him. The next morning, it was his turn to make a phone call—the first one he'd made since coming home.

            "Hello, Uncle...? I need to talk to you about something."


End file.
